Map

I have a map of the United States that is pinned to the wall in the hallway leading to the garage. This map is laminated and show all of the major interstates and highways connecting the cities together with the smaller cities and towns. The map shows major rivers, mountains, and lakes along with stars for capitals of states and large dots for big cities and smaller dots for smaller towns. There are some really small towns that are not listed on the map but they do exist. I have driven past many of them as we have taken road trips as a family. Some of these road trips have led to new places to live and even new jobs and opportunities. Some of these roads have led to relatives houses spread out across the country and some have led to interesting things to see or landmarks and history to learn and appreciate. We have drawn lines on all of the roads that we have driven. When we were living in Overland Park, Kansas a suburb of Kansas City, we would take short trips to St. Louis, Missouri. On one trip we decided to stay overnight and visit down town St. Louis. We started at City Museum. City Museum is a unique museum filled with recycled everything. Metal, rollers from conveyor belts, small planes, trains and many other industrial recycling. One can climb on all of it. With Patrick and Ella in tow we went with some of our friends from Kansas. I did not realize just how big a place like that could be. City Museum is in a very old four or five story red brick warehouse. When walking up to the entrance there is metal rings and walkways above and trains and metal animals below. There is so much to see and climb on. Once we payed the entrance fee we started our tour of the place. I decided to start my climb up the metal on the outside of the building to see the plane that was suspended some forty feet in the air. Patrick was young and afraid of heights but we coaxed him along. The challenge with the metal walkways was that although one is surrounded by plenty of metal the whole apparatus sways when being walked on and there isn't any wood to block ones view of the ground. Every step is a step of faith hoping that the metal ribs will withstand the weight of one more person. Once we got to the plane we could climb even higher and enter the building from a window and see all of the things inside. My favorite thing was an old bank safe that had been relocated to the museum. The safe door stood open and one could see that it was almost three feet thick. The safe door was made of brass with a very large locking mechanism of bolts around the middle of the door that went into corresponding holes built into the wall of the safe. The amazing thing about such a heavy door was that Patrick a small five year old boy, could push the door open and shut with ease. Who knew that such hinges existed easy to open a door that weighed several tons and not even a squeak. One of the benefits of City Museum is that everything presented is not blocked off by glass or rope, there are no signs that say access denied or restricted, there is only an atmosphere of please touch, play, run, move, and don't worry. One simple thing that was on the third floor was an old piano. It was a little out of tune but anyone could play it. It didn't matter if you were good at it or not and the plunking and pounding could be heard echoing off of the walls in almost every part of the museum. In the back of the museum there were some caves built into the building. In these caves were metal and cement built up three stories tall. The kids could get in and climb all the way up without fear of falling as it was all enclosed with metal rods between two and three inches apart and the path leading up only two or three feet in diameter. All of these attractions and more to play on or touch or run to and then the culmination of the entire museum are two slides made entirely of conveyor belt rollers. The slides are two and three stories tall and two or three feet wide. Sit down and away you go. In the whole museum this is the only place where I saw a warning sign. It simply said to keep hands and hair up or something like that. There is always a slight risk of pinching fingers or caught hair and they wanted to make sure you were aware, but I think that made it all the more fun as I sat with Patrick in front of me and Maggie and Ella behind ready to slide down from the third floor. What a thrill. There are no bars or side rails to guide just a straight shot three stories down. I held on to Patrick and away we went, down the slide, once at the bottom with me a little out of breath from the trepidation and a little fear that I had, Patrick just said, "Let's do it again." And so we did.